Douglas threw Ramsay into Hermitage Castle in Liddesdale and starved him to death.
In 1343 the Knight began to intrigue traitorously with Edward III.; after a truce, David led his whole force into England, where his rash chivalry caused his utter defeat at Neville's Cross, near Durham (October 17, 1346).

He was taken, as was the Bishop of St Andrews; his ransom became the central question between England and Scotland.

In 1353 Douglas, Knight of Liddesdale, was slain at Williamshope on Yarrow by his godson, William, Lord Douglas: the fact is commemorated in a fragment of perhaps our oldest narrative Border ballad.

French men-at-arms now helped the Scots to recover Berwick, merely to lose it again in 1356; in 1357 David was set free: his ransom, 100,000 merks, was to be paid by instalment.
The country was heavily taxed, but the full sum was never paid.

Meanwhile the Steward had been Regent; between him, the heir of the Crown failing issue to David, and the King, jealousies arose.